Eyes on the Street

It's been almost a year since we first reported on a sinkhole eating away at the Hudson River Greenway just north of 181st Street. The Parks Department added barricades, an old board, and finally filled it with gravel last month while it figured out "a long-term solution."

Sometimes, it's the little things that make a big difference. Manuel de Dios Unanue Triangle provides a speck of green along Roosevelt Avenue in the packed Jackson Heights neighborhood, but for years, there was nowhere to sit.

The huge surface parking lot and inward-facing, suburban-style design were bad enough. Now the Gowanus Whole Foods Market is taking over the Third Avenue bike lane and sidewalk as a private loading zone.

Last June, we reported on a sinkhole in the Hudson River Greenway just north of 181st Street in Washington Heights. The Parks Department, which manages the path, said it had cordoned off the hole and was assessing the situation. As of yesterday, nothing much had changed in ten months -- except the hole has filled with leaves and grown slightly larger, swallowing more of the greenway path along with it. Now, the Parks Department says it has filled in the hole as a temporary measure.

Yesterday the Tri-State Transportation Campaign tweeted this photo of the new Eighth Avenue bike lane alignment between 31st Street and 33rd Street. On this stretch, there's no longer physical protection for cyclists, and motorists can double-park in the bike lane. What gives?

New Yorkers are told to notify 311 about sidewalks that need to be cleared of snow and ice. That's what I did after I came across the 214th Street steps on Saturday, but as of today my request has yet to be acted on.

After years of delays, work began today to rebuild the 215th Step-Street in Inwood.

The story of the Bergen Street bike lane, and the 78th precinct, keeps getting better.